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The Syndicate
The Syndicate. In every shadowed alley of the black market, in every relaxed corner of the museum, in every major city under a sparkling night sky no other title evokes more greed among art collectors willing to shattered the law to acquire their next must-have piece or more terror than the curator knowing his job and reputation are on the line if but a single piece of art goes missing. Simply put, around the world, The Syndicate means art theft. Though tales and rumors abound about The Syndicate, the bare fact is that The Syndicate is nothing more than six—sometimes seven—meta-humans that indulge themselves is high stakes art theft for the sheer enjoyment of it. They are not a particularly violent group, and they are certainly not murderers or killers. They are criminal masterminds who get a real kick out of matching wits with superheroes and other members of law enforcement. When they manage to put a plan into action and succeed they are quick to congratulate heroes and wish them better luck next time. When the plan fails and the Syndicate is arrested they are just as quick to congratulate heroes for a job well done and promptly escape custody to plan their next heist. Roster Frederick Fagan, internationally known and wanted across the globe under the moniker of Fox of Crime, is the undisputed and shameless leader of The Syndicate. His roguish good looks and charm, he is often considered to be a young Pierce Brosnan, has earned him a lot of swooning female fans across all strata of society; and more than a few male admirers whom would love nothing more to be him. How he got his skills and education is not really well known and that’s only because he tells a different story each time he is asked. He has been a bored billionaire philanthropist, the seventh descendant of a founder of a medieval thief’s guild, an average joe who just got lucky, and so on. Frederick Fagan is undoubtedly an alias, but the most well-known of over a hundred. Fagan has called himself the greatest thief of his century and he’s probably not just boasting. He in a master of every cat burglar skill under the sun, an expert with acting and disguise, a peerless prestidigitator, and a master infiltrator. Vocation-wise he has been an ambassador, a chef, a doctor, a therapist, a repairman, a ship’s captain; his occupations are as numerous as the hairs on his head. He speaks 25 languages as fluently as a native speaker. He also evidently has friends in very high places, for he has been observed to utilize gadgets and technology that are well beyond the means and scope of an average citizen though undoubtedly he stole most of them, and drives a bright yellow Fiat that has been instilled with a mind-boggling array of gadgetry such as booster rockets, oil slicks and caltrops, and at least a dozen other fun devices. But the most impressive of The Fox of Crime’s abilities is that he has no super powers of any kind. Although very well trained in the bizarre form of martial art called Mu-Zhi-Gon, whereupon any object in his hands can become a deadly weapon, and skilled in the use of small firearms The Fox of Crime rarely relies on a weapon more deadly than a banana cream pie to the face. He deplores hurting people and despises killing. He is respected by many heroes because of his strict adherence to his no killing rule and also because he has gone out of his way to rescue innocents in danger. On many occasions he has also switched sides and helped local heroes bring a violent or murderous criminal to justice. The Fox of Crime has many, many enemies. INTERPOL is after him, the Department of Justice is after him, Heroes Unlimited is after him, The Advent is after him; everybody ''seems to be after him. But Fagan wades through it all grinning, enjoying himself and sometimes planting a cream pie into an overly serious hero’s face just to get the boy scout to lighten up a little. '''Hitman, '''Jason Umibuko, looks and seems more deadly than he really is. Always dapper, Hitman wears neatly pressed suits with a trademark fedora. Were he Italian and not a Japanese-American he would indeed look like a Mafia assassin. Umibuko has been Fagan’s best friend and right hand man for as long as anyone can remember, the two are inseparable'.' Hitman’s name is well-deserved. His skill with firearms of any size and caliber in peerless and legendary. If he were to shoot a single gun 12 times every day for a year he would only miss his target five times. He’s that good. He’s always armed to the teeth, too. He carries a pair of .45s, a backup pair of .9mm, and a tertiary pair of .22s. He always carries at least six knives, he’s a very skilled knife fighter. Thankfully for most that he aims a weapon at the weapon is chambered with rubber bullets; he reserves the real things for vehicles and deathbots and other such ‘soulless creations’. Umiboko is a ladies’ man, unfailingly. Even when he’s engaged in a brawl with a female superhero there is a lot of heavy flirting going on, he just can’t seem to help himself. Hitman really enjoys the finer things in life: A fine wine, a fine meal, and a fine woman on his arm in the sweeping lights of Paris, Milan, Rio, or Monaco. '''Bushido '''is unlike Frederick Fagan and Jason Umiboko. Kazen Jukuri is quiet, dour, and meditative. He is the samurai of The Syndicate, as skilled a super-human swordsman as there is ever to be. His black vibranium katana, Honor, is renowned for slicing anything from a sheet of paper to a six foot thick pillar of granite and never losing its edge. Jukuri is very much the strong and silent type, a swilled swordsman descended from a very long and ancient line of swordsmen dating back to the Edo Period. The authorities have given him the name Bushido, which he really doesn’t like. The authorities aren’t quite sure why Jukuri, a man of definable honor and ethics, is attached to a group of super-thieves and Jukuri himself isn’t saying. '''Wolfspider '''has powers similar to a spider; being able to cling to sheer surfaces and put on incredible bursts of super-speed. He is a masterful cat burglar and martial artist with a peculiar fondness for electronics. He wears a sturdily constructed utility belt outfitted with a number of gadgets to help him with his cat-burglary and combat situations. Wolfspider is most notable for taking a shining to meta-humans that make use of tools and gadgets themselves, which he likes to collect just to prove that he can relinquish them from their owners. Most of the time Wolfspider will linger for a few weeks watching to see how the super handles the loss, and then return the item with a cheery and mocking note. '''Strafe '''is The Syndicate’s electronic and mechanical genius. Jeanette Hines’ particular specialty is breaking and entering, using either her personal formidable skills or sometimes aided by code-breakers and auto-dialers. The bigger and more sophisticated the safe or security system the better she likes it. Rather than lug around a bunch of gear everywhere she goes she has instead constructed a very lightweight body harness that has everything she needs built directly into it and also has some useful combat apps as well: The suit is powered by a tiny micro-fusion generator that can route power into an offensive system that fires volleys of high-impact energy ‘bullets’ or micro-missiles. The harness also has extendable stabilizers at the ankles, back, and shoulders which, when engaged with her boots, allows her to nimbly rocket through the air at speeds of up to 180 miles per hour. '''Spellweaver '''makes up the final always on duty member of the group, filling in the gap that many other criminal groups lack: Sorcery. Spellweaver, who’s real name is Michael Richards, is a 16 year old cyber-genius whom has learned to harness the energy form known as magic through a vast arsenal of wireless devices, smart-phones, and keyboards built into the forearms and thighs of his outfit. His specialty is what he calls correspondence, meaning that he is able to warp space-time to open mystically fueled portals in an instant. The group then uses these portals for instant getaways. It’s not known if Spellweaver is able to use his particular form of arcane without electronic devices but it’s most likely that he is; only just that the communication devices gives him a focus for his ability. '''Mousetrap '''is an unofficial seventh member of The Syndicate. She works often with the group and Fox of Crime would love to recruit her full-time, but Mousetrap is simply having too much fun on her own right now to consider permanently settling with any one group. Modus Operandi The Syndicate rarely acts on impulse. They plan every crime from start to finish, spending months rehearsing the job down to the last second and trying to plan for every contingency. Most individuals in law enforcement agree that such meticulous organization is the secret to their success; without such brainstorming and practicing it’s very unlikely The Syndicate would be as successful as they are. Once the mission has been planned and rehearsed down to the last second, the Fox of Crime keeps his team on its toes by introducing the wild card: he will call a local hero group and give them the mission goals and when to expect the Syndicate to strike. At that point it becomes a true battle of wits, with grinning super-thieves waiting breathlessly to see what the heroes will do next to counter them. The Syndicate never aim at small targets. Local banks are beneath them. They are extremely high stakes: they go after rare and fabulous museum exhibits, royal jewel collections, ancient magical artifacts, art collections worth millions, and priceless meta-human foci and gear. They do not limit themselves to the good guys either: they have stolen from Olympic Industries, The Genocide Agenda, The Geodesics, and a small handful of Advent Overlords. To The Syndicate, the thrill is in testing themselves and making fools out of their targets. Nightshade, and Relations with Others The Syndicate moves out of the realm of a group of super-thieves and into the realm of a recognized organized crime group because of The Nightshade. Nightshade is an elite guild of thieves from all over the world that was organized by Fagan in the early 2000. The Nightshades agree to pool their resources and spoils from their crimes into a specific general fund, which any member can then draw from to cover the cost of legal fees, medical bills, operations for Mom, or whatever they might need it for. The Nightshade taking out a loan simply promises to repay the debt in full within five years, lists the amount needed, and soon finds the funds available within their personal bank account. Quick, clean, and easy. There are a few caveats, however. No member of a Nightshade is ever allowed to commit murder. It’s happened that a Nightshade has killed in self-defense or by accident, crimes that are overlooked if the Nightshade can justify the necessity. But accidental deaths are monitored closely. If a Nightshade starts developing a track record of ''accidents then the third accident is considered a murder. Outright murder is never allowed. Any Nightshade deliberately taking the life of another soon finds themselves completely cut off from the organization and, much worse, discovers that their entire life history and concrete evidence linking him to the crime in question has been turned over to local law enforcement agencies. When the Fox of Crime says no killing, he means it. Also, The Syndicate never tolerates injury or death to family members of Nightshade targets. Sure, sometimes it’s a necessity for a family to be tied up during a home-invasion robbery but if it goes further than that the offending Nightshade will suffer the same result as if he had committed murder. This also applies to other violent crimes such as rape, mayhem, and torture. The Syndicate is always very careful to watch the Nightshade because in a crime empire so large there are bound to be rotten apples finding their way into the season’s harvest but, thankfully, such Nightshades are quickly rooted out and dealt with. As far as other groups so, heroic and criminal, The Syndicate does not play well with others. Heroes are often too stuffy and unbendable, and criminals are often too violent or self-centered. Better to steal from them and poke fun than make a concerted effort to get along. This outlook has earned The Syndicate enemies on both sides of the fence. However, exceptions have been made. When criminal threats rise that threaten to destroy Paradigm City or kill countless innocents, The Syndicate has been known to and can reasonably be relied on to drop everything and join forces with heroes to end the threat. After all, as Fox of Crime says, it’s our home too. On the reverse side of the coin, Fox of Crime has little tolerance for so-called heroes that wantonly cause death wherever they go as well. It’s only happened a scant handful of times but The Syndicate has decided in the past that when dealing with such heroes the gloves must come off. The last time was in 2007, when a young woman named Lampshade, with known ties to the Syndicate, was tortured to death by a rogue hero for information. The Syndicate took great exception and that hero, The Retaliator, has not been seen since flirting with Strafe in her civilian identity one evening in Gold Coast City’s famed Ocean Mile. *Special thanks to Lotus for the creation of The Nightshade Myths & Rumors As befitting a group made up of super thieves, The Syndicate has its fair share of attached legends, myths, and rumors. Some of these have been validated or debunked, others still remain unresolved. *'The Syndicate once robbed a casino for every last dime'. TRUTH. On their very first outing, Fox of Crime and Hitmasn waltzed into the Tromiranda Casino on Gold Coast City. Over a period of 12 hours they took every last scrap of cash between runs with breaking and entering, gambling cons, scams, and disguises. *'The Syndicate once stole bacon because someone said they couldn't do'. TRUTH. A popular talk-show DJ in the United Kingdom scoffed about The Syndicate live on-air, saying the group couldn't steal enough bacon to feed him and that the tales about their skills were overblown. The Syndicate gleefully joined in the game. The very next day they stole 5 tons of bacon from warehouses all over London and had it delivered to the DJ's house with a happy note from Fagan which read: Is this enough? *'The Syndicate employs deadly assassins'. FALSE. Even though Fox has made his opinions about killing very public, the rumor persists. *'The Syndicate once stole experimental technology from Doctor Destroyer'. FALSE. Not even Fox of Crime is willing to take that particular risk.